Generally, in a ticketing procedure of a boarding ticket, a railroad pass, or the like, customer-operated automatic ticketing apparatuses that issue a boarding ticket, a railroad pass, and the like (hereinafter, referred to as a boarding ticket) in accordance with the operation of a customer are known. The automatic ticketing apparatus includes a customer-operated display screen that has a touch panel function used for a customer to perform an input operation and further includes a card inserting opening into which various cards are inserted and a boarding ticket discharging port that discharges a boarding ticket, and the like. In such an apparatus, a ticketing process is completed by a customer's operation without an intervention of an operator. Accordingly, fault recovery of the apparatus and maintenance work for internal checking of a medium are constantly required.
FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a maintenance operation of a conventional automatic ticketing apparatus. The automatic ticketing apparatus 51 includes a customer-operated display screen 52, an upper operation unit 53 that occupies an upper half portion of the front side of the apparatus, plural insertion openings and discharge openings, and a lower operation unit 54 that occupies a lower half portion of the front side of the apparatus. Inside the automatic ticketing apparatus 51, internal units such as a circuit board on which electric components used for controlling the apparatus are mounted, a roll paper medium for boarding tickets, and a card reader/writer are included. The upper operation unit 53 can be rotated around the upper end side serving as its rotation axis as shown in FIG. 5. As the upper operation unit 53 is lifted in a direction denoted by arrow C, a maintenance space in which a maintenance staff can access the internal units is opened. The upper operation unit 53 is normally closed and is locked with the main body of the automatic ticketing apparatus 51.
In order to perform a maintenance operation, a maintenance staff rotates a cylinder lock 55 so as to release locking by operating a lock releasing key disposed in the lower operation unit 54. Accordingly, the maintenance staff can perform maintenance of the internal units using the maintenance space opened by lifting the upper operation unit 53.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2000-268229 discloses a technology, in a transaction processing apparatus having a customer transaction screen on a front panel of an apparatus, for arranging the customer transaction screen at a position appropriate for an operation by a maintenance staff by lifting up the front panel and turning back only the customer transaction screen at the time of the maintenance operation.